


I Told You So

by RonsGirlFriday



Series: Perfectly Imperfect Percy [8]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Final Battle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-13
Updated: 2019-11-13
Packaged: 2021-01-29 21:33:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21417007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RonsGirlFriday/pseuds/RonsGirlFriday
Summary: "So." Her voice, full of hostility even while it trembled with pain, cut across his little moment of solace. "Which side are you here with?"A Percy/Penny moment during the Final Battle.(Previously written for an HPFF collab.)
Relationships: Penelope Clearwater/Percy Weasley
Series: Perfectly Imperfect Percy [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1543966
Kudos: 28





	I Told You So

**Author's Note:**

> _This was written for a 2010 HPFF collaboration about various character's perspectives and experiences during the Battle of Hogwarts. I have another one-shot from that same collab, "Best Served Cold," focused on Ron._

> _"Hell is yourself and the only redemption is when a person  
puts himself aside to feel deeply for another person."  
\--Tennessee Williams_

Percy ran.

Neither towards danger nor away from it; neither with a particular purpose nor completely random. He just ran.

And yet every direction was towards danger, and every single solitary movement was done with purpose and also without thinking; for they were surrounded, infiltrated, as chaos and confusion and uncertainty reigned.

Forwards and backwards, up stairways and down corridors, and around in circles, knowing that where he was didn't matter so much as what he was doing, fighting alongside perfect strangers and old friends alike; feeling a sense of responsibility for their lives like no responsibility he'd ever felt before; understanding that he belonged here, while at the same time comprehending how truly expendable he was in the eyes of this world.

He'd lost all sight of his family and was now coming to the aid of one of the Patil twins, halfway down a corridor that was otherwise deserted. Spells echoed off the stone walls with deafening cracks and clangs, until the massive Death Eater lay motionless on the floor. The Patil girl breathed a quick "Thank you" and dashed off in the direction of the Great Hall, where the melee was thickest. Percy leaned against the wall, the sounds of angry hexes still ringing in his ears.

A terrified shriek from an adjoining corridor caught his attention, and he sprinted around the corner in time to see a wand clattering against the ground and a stooped Death Eater bearing down on its Disarmed owner. The Death Eater raised his wand –

"_Stupefy!_" yelled Percy.

The girl shrieked again and scrambled out of the way as the hooded figure was thrown forward, landing just to the right of where she had been crouched.

Percy stumbled a bit as he caught sight of the girl's corkscrew curls and angular features, all of which were covered with bits of dirt and debris.

"Penny!"

She shared his look of surprise, but there was also a wariness in her gaze that he did not share. Whereas Percy felt an inexplicable sense of relief upon seeing her, Penny looked quite the opposite. Without responding, she began scooting along the floor towards her wand; she was sniffling, and there was something not quite right about the way she was moving.

"Penny!" he repeated, dropping to his knees beside her. "You're hurt!"

She held her left arm gingerly, as though it were broken, and there was a deep gash across her left shoulder. Percy tore his eyes away from the injury – he never did very well with blood.

"I'm fine," she said through gritted teeth, and he noticed her eyes were red from crying. He also noticed she was still avoiding looking at him. "I just need my wand – "

"No, let me – "

"I don't need your help!"

Glancing at the gash on her shoulder again, he fought back the nausea pressing in on him and stammered on.

"Be – be reasonable, Penny – come on – "

"Get out of it, Percy!"

But Percy was past the arguing. Before Penny could say another word, he had already seized her around the waist, pulling her into a recess behind a nearby statute that was chipped, cracked, and dirtied beyond all recognition. She didn't struggle much – she was, after all, in no condition to resist, which was exactly why he needed to get her out of harm's way. Once he was sure that she was well hidden, he darted back out to retrieve her wand and then knelt down again to face her. His mind was reeling, and not just from the blood; it had been over two years since he had so much as looked her in person.

Bringing his focus back to her injury, he tore off his jumper and held it against the gash on her arm to stem the flow of blood. He was bollocks at Healing spells when it came to serious injuries like this. It wasn't something he liked to admit, but really, they hadn't taught those sorts of spells in school, and he worked for the Ministry, not St. Mungo's.

He looked at her face again, simply happy to know she was alive. He hadn't been sure, though he'd thought about it nearly every day since the Ministry began its blood status inquisition.

"So." Her voice, full of hostility even while it trembled with pain, cut across his little moment of solace. "Which side are you here with?"

Percy blinked and scrambled to find his voice amidst his shame.

"I – er - okay, I know I deserve that," he admitted finally.

_Smack!_

"Argh!" His hand flew to his stinging cheek. It seemed Penny's right arm was still in perfect condition. "Ow. I – yeah, that too."

Penny seemed to be beyond words at this point; she simply glared at Percy, who averted his eyes and concentrated on pressing the rolled-up jumper gently against her shoulder. When he dared to look up at her, he saw in her expression all sorts of terrible things he didn't want to acknowledge, but knew he must. And then, without warning, she began crying all over again, more violently than before, as though each sob were wrenched from her against her will - and even someone as emotionally daft as Percy Weasley could tell it had nothing to do with her arm.

"I – oh, no, don't – Penny, don't – um – "

He stumbled over his words like an idiot. Why couldn't he just spit it out? He'd had so many words at the ready when she walked out that day, many of them harsh, and all in defense of himself and his absurdly indefensible behavior, when what he really should have said was -

"I'm sorry," he finally managed. "I'm so sorry. I'm sorry."

He lost count of how many times he repeated it – it really didn't matter, as he had so much to atone for. He was sorry for what he had become. He was sorry for hurting her back then. He was sorry for the pain she was feeling now.

He knew he was responsible – however small a role he may have played – for helping to bring about the madness that was taking place all around them. He would never stop feeling sorry about that. And now it had come full circle – it had come for the last person who had attempted to make him see reason.

His apologies lapsed into an awkward silence, during which he waited for Penny's tears to subside and her breathing to steady. Distant battle sounds echoed in nearby corridors, and every so often a pair of feet belonging to a solitary student scampered by, but their little alcove seemed very quiet.

Percy nodded stiffly towards her injured arm. "Who did this?"

Penny shrugged with her good shoulder and inclined her head in the direction of the unidentified Death Eater, who still lay where Percy had Stunned him. "He was about to – well, I don't know what he was about to do." She paused before whispering, "Thank you."

Percy just nodded again.

"We need to get you somewhere safe," he said after another moment's silence. "You can't keep hanging around here with your arm like that, and I can't mend it." He looked around, as though expecting an infirmary to sprout out of the wall.

"I'm not going to hide, not when people are dying, and besides, where in this castle is 'safe,' exactly?"

"Well – we could get you to the Room of Requirement – it's safe in there, that's where my sister is – or at the very least, you should stay here, where nobody can – "

"Maybe you didn't hear me," she cut across him. "I'm not going to hide."

"I did hear you, and you're being stupid."

She opened her mouth to speak again, and panic flooded over him. Why couldn't she see? She was in so much danger just due to who she was, and now in her weakened state… Had she not seen the brutality of the past hour in every hall and on every staircase? Oh, why couldn't she have gone into hiding and saved herself?

The words came rushing out before he could stop himself.

"Why did you even come here?"

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Why did _you?_"

Because, he acknowledged silently, he had finally confronted the truth she tried to make him see two years earlier.

_You have turned your back on every person who has ever cared about you. Including me._

Before he could respond, a jet of red light soared over the statue and crashed into the wall above them, raining down pieces of stone. Percy stifled Penny's scream with his hand and peered down the corridor, where the sounds of dueling were growing ever closer.

To his horror, Percy saw his own brother backing into view, pursued by two hooded figures firing wayward curses.

"Oi!" called Fred to nobody in particular. "A little help over here? _Impedimenta!_ Where the sodding hell is George when you need him? _Stupefy!_"

Percy was not George – but he was Fred's brother all the same. He turned to Penny with a torn look.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I should…"

He trailed off helplessly, gesturing towards his brother by way of explanation.

Penny nodded, a weak smile on her face. "Yes, I quite agree," she replied. "You really should."

He snorted as he pushed himself off the ground. "Right. You told me so."

"Yes. I did."

"Stay here," he pleaded, before running off to join Fred. "I'll come back."

He jumped out from his hiding spot and deflected a curse fired by one Death Eater as Fred ducked a hex from the other.

"Percy!" shouted Fred amiably, his face positively lighting up. "Look at you! You really _can_ do something besides push papers with that thing!"

Percy laughed in spite of himself, and the battle continued down the corridor.

**Author's Note:**

> This was written before "Ignatius," which also focuses on Percy's role in the battle. They are not necessarily mutually exclusive/inconsistent works, but "I Told You So" is not specifically meant to be a part of the same reality as "Ignatius" and _Irrational._


End file.
